POWER TESTING IN ELITE SPORT AND ...

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method popularized by Louie Simmons (a power lifting coach) to teach lifters to accelerate throughout the entire lift is the use of rubber bands. This method is ...
POWER TESTING IN ELITE SPORT AND PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS FOR TRAINING Carson Patterson, Christian Raschner; Mattias Schnitzer & Hans-Peter Platzer Institute of Sport Science, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria The ability to produce force quickly is often a deciding factor in sport. Dynamic power assessment is related to complex aspects of muscle function as well as target performance in sports. In this sense, dynamic power testing includes multi-joint movements such as jumping under typical real life conditions. Testing of power is important, but understanding the results and ultimately using them to improve training is the goal of the testing process. The purpose of this paper is to describe a system of power testing and how the results are used in training. KEY WORDS: power, jumps, testing.

INTRODUCTION: Jumping power can be assessed with many methods, but measuring ground reaction forces with force plates allows detailed analysis of power parameters. A unique power testing system which was developed in the Institute of Sport Sciences at the University of Innsbruck (Pernitsch, 2000) enables the measurement of many power parameters, and analysis of right and left leg force production in a bilateral (BL) jump. This paper outlines the jump power testing which is a regular part of testing for many athletic groups tested at the University of Innsbruck’s Institute of Sport Science. METHOD: Data Collection: 20 male athletes (10 weightlifters and 10 general power athletes) who use power cleans regularly in training were tested. Force and power data were collected and compared during the performance of power cleans, power hang cleans, loaded squat jumps (SJ) and loaded counter movement jumps (CMJ). The power parameters average relative power (P), average relative power during the first 100ms (P01) and average relative power during the first 200ms (P02) were used for analysis. Statistical analysis was conducted with independent t tests (p